No Colchester Festival next year

Essex County Cricket Club regret to announce that the Colchester Cricket Festival will not take place in 2017.

This does not signify the end of the Colchester Cricket Festival, and a decision will be made next year regarding this event during the 2018 season, which will largely depend on the fixture schedule.

The fixture schedule for 2017, compiled by the ECB, presents a three month period in the season where we have only one home Specsavers County Championship match taking place.

Club Chairman, John Faragher, expressed his disappointment in seeing the Festival suspended for the forthcoming season. However, he is confident that this decision has been made in the best interests of the Club’s Membership.

John said: “This was a very difficult decision to make, the Colchester Festival week has always been an integral part of the season, with players and Members always enjoying the experience of visiting Castle Park.

“However, the Club’s Committee decided that it was simply not acceptable to agree a fixture plan that would result in no Championship cricket at Chelmsford, for nearly three months in the middle of the summer. Going forward, we will review this decision and depending on the fixtures, hope to see Colchester back in the schedule for 2018”.